More importantly, what's the name of this officer? Cops like this, that give the other 1% a bad name, need to be exposed to the public. What's his name, where does he live, who's family does he come from?

Here's a story where the cop admits to being a power hungry dickhead, and fark is still going after the civilian for being on a bike. With one doosh even citing some completely non-related incident involving a copmletely different cyclist.

Deathfrogg:ExperianScaresCthulhu: Tat'dGreaser: Wait a minute, at what point does he start recording? If it's after he's been stopped by the officer, we're supposed to take his word that he didn't do anything wrong? Most police officers will give you a break if you're not a dick.

That doesn't apply to everyone, at all.

There are an awful lot of cops out there who will do practically anything to escalate a situation from a traffic citation into a felony. Felony arrests get them the promotions. Traffic citations do not.

Guess I've just been lucky. Been pulled over 40 or so times in a car, for 12 tickets (all justified, except one in Poughkeepsie; I used to be a leadfoot) and 30+ warnings over the years. One DUI stop where I had to walk the line, no problem...can't blame the cops for that, everyone ELSE in the car smelled like a distillery. Plus stopped once on a bike, got a warning again.Never even close to an arrest.

Tat'dGreaser:skinink: The ticket was cancelled so it sounds like it was the cop who was in the wrong. And just because someone's acting like a jerk doesn't mean they're breaking the law. Since when does wearing a badge means the cop is assumed to be in the right?

I hate this story because it makes me defend the bicyclist. I feel dirty over it.

Well if they did cancel it, then probably the cop was in the wrong. I just hate this "turn the video on at the right time" kind of justice. I think both people involved are dicks.

Deathfrogg:It would seem that individuals who receive such assignments are often the people that the superiors want to keep out of the way for a period. The Seattle Detective I know has said this in so many words. The assholes and dumbasses get the shiat assignments and are kept out of the way of doing real police work and often don't get promoted. Of course, this probably only reinforces their behavior by frustrating their own sense of superhero/crimefighter status, but it is their own attitude that gets them into the situation.

A well-run police department bureaucracy understands that a certain percentage of jerks, bullies, liars and sociopaths will get through the training and culling process. The departments that are having discipline issues or a lot of brutality complaints are the ones that have forsaken the culling process in favor of merely keeping the positions filled. Probably because the job is crap and doesn't pay enough.

It's hard to maintain a good attitude when the outside observers nitpick every aspect of ones work. The departments that have the most problems have consciously made the decision to ignore the problems and complaints and go out of their way to protect the jerks instead of getting them off the force. This only serves to reinforce the critics' position.

Police Departments need to do a much better job of weeding out the assholes. It must be much easier to fire a cop for wrongdoing or lazy behavior. Any act of perjury or unnecessary brutality should be ...

I agree with everything you said but I'll add this: In my experience with three different law enforcement agencies, cops that are bullies rarely last very long. They burn out quickly because they find out police work is generally boring and repetitious, or they get tired of being constantly scrutinized and disciplined for their bad behavior. The problem is that they can create a lot of bad puiblicity in the short period of time that they wear a uniform.

The profession, by its nature, attracts "jerks, bullies, liars and sociopaths" as you say, but most are weeded out during the hiring process. The few that get through the process usually quit or are fired after a few years for the reasons cited above. Some agencies are so large that these guys can hide longer than they could at a smaller agency but even then they don't usually make it through an entire career.

The cop in the article could be a bully, but more likely he's just a motor officer that was trying to do whatever it was he was assigned to do and was frustrated about this guy arguing with him. If the stop lasted 10 minutes before the cyclist even turned on his camera, the cop was probably trying to lecture and release him. If the cop had wanted to write him a ticket from the start, he would have done so and not argued for 10 minutes.

PunGent:Deathfrogg: ExperianScaresCthulhu: Tat'dGreaser: Wait a minute, at what point does he start recording? If it's after he's been stopped by the officer, we're supposed to take his word that he didn't do anything wrong? Most police officers will give you a break if you're not a dick.

That doesn't apply to everyone, at all.

There are an awful lot of cops out there who will do practically anything to escalate a situation from a traffic citation into a felony. Felony arrests get them the promotions. Traffic citations do not.

Guess I've just been lucky. Been pulled over 40 or so times in a car, for 12 tickets (all justified, except one in Poughkeepsie; I used to be a leadfoot) and 30+ warnings over the years. One DUI stop where I had to walk the line, no problem...can't blame the cops for that, everyone ELSE in the car smelled like a distillery. Plus stopped once on a bike, got a warning again.Never even close to an arrest.

Yeah, my mom was a pretty serious leadfoot when I was a kid. She got pulled over a lot, nearly always getting a warning, I think she's had maybe 15 tickets over the course of her lifetime. She's almost 70 now, and doesn't have a V8 anymore. Myself, since I was 14 I've had four tickets and have been stopped maybe eight times total. But I haven't been pulled over since 1987.

There is a reason why a lot of people simply don't care when they read/hear about a cop getting shot. Half of the cops out there are terrible people. We probably should have better oversight of them, because it really makes it hard for the other half that aren't terrible people to do their job.

Tat'dGreaser:Wait a minute, at what point does he start recording? If it's after he's been stopped by the officer, we're supposed to take his word that he didn't do anything wrong? Most police officers will give you a break if you're not a dick.

Most people are dicks and most cops are dicks, so therein lies the conundrum.

CruiserTwelve:The cop in the article could be a bully, but more likely he's just a motor officer that was trying to do whatever it was he was assigned to do and was frustrated about this guy arguing with him. If the stop lasted 10 minutes before the cyclist even turned on his camera, the cop was probably trying to lecture and release him. If the cop had wanted to write him a ticket from the start, he would have done so and not argued for 10 minutes.

Yeah, it could have been as simple as the supervisor drawing a short straw and assigning the guy the beat somewhat arbitrarily. It is probably a rather boring beat. The cyclist arguing with him probably didn't do anything for his attitude.

I lived in Venice for a year or so in 1971 when I was a little kid. Mom moved us the hell out of there when the LAPD raided the house next door for a serial bank robber and one of the suspects got himself shot. Crappy little house a half a block from the beach.

Tat'dGreaser:Wait a minute, at what point does he start recording? If it's after he's been stopped by the officer, we're supposed to take his word that he didn't do anything wrong? Most police officers will give you a break if you're not a dick.

Unless they are already on the warpath.

Trust me, if you've never been involved in a case of police over-reaching, you don't know hell.

(Ugh, trying to explain the bullshiat felony charges to my employer, the FBI (because of my clearance), hiring a lawyer, etc. As far as I know the asshole is still on the beat.)

Actually,. the way I read it, the biker DID, in fact, break the law, and the cop explained to him that, more or less, he probably wouldn't have been cited for it--for the law that he did break--if he hadn't been a dick. So, kind of like every traffic cop interaction ever, huh?

If that we're true why did the cop change his story as to what law was broken?

First it was for being in the wrong lane, after the dotted line was pointed out the cop lied and said he was going to fast.

The only thing the LAPD cares about nowadays is revenue. Good luck getting them to do anything closely related to serving or protecting. All they do is write chicken shiat tickets, like jay-walking tickets. Where is all that money going? I mean it's not like we don't pay taxes at a high rate out here.

CruiserTwelve:Deathfrogg: Felony arrests get them the promotions. Traffic citations do not.

I suggest you research the promotional system in the LAPD.

That being said, I'm sure the cop was assigned to patrol the bike path because of complaints and he was just trying to do what he was assigned to do. He stopped a violator and got an argument so he wrote an attitude ticket. I don't agree with attitude tickets so the cop was wrong in doing that, but I doubt this was as big a deal as it appears to be.

You don't think attitude tickets are a big deal? That kind of thinking is why many people rightfully dislike cops.

When this farkwad get sued, instead of the city covering for it, the payment should come directly from his salary. (Same should go for any LEO abusing his/her authority) I bet you'd see a sharp drop in Officer Powertrips around the country.

Actually,. the way I read it, the biker DID, in fact, break the law, and the cop explained to him that, more or less, he probably wouldn't have been cited for it--for the law that he did break--if he hadn't been a dick. So, kind of like every traffic cop interaction ever, huh?

If that we're true why did the cop change his story as to what law was broken?

TwowheelinTim:abhorrent1: Bicyclists are assholes and should be ticketed. Don't break the law and you won't have a problem! Oh right. Laws don't apply to bicyclists.

people like you should take the bus.

I kind of figured the comments on this would be about equally divided between motorists and bikers. There are tons of motorists that get pissed because they don't want to share the road and there are tons of bikers that don't want to follow the law. Both sides are right and both sides are wrong.

MFAWG:Tank_Fuzzbutt: My father was hired by the LAPD in 1949 and retired after 30 years. I think I can hear him spinning in his grave over what the LAPD has become.

The legend is that LAPD is pretty tame compared to what it was in those days. Not sure how true that is, though.

Somewhat true. But the average citizen wasn't harassed like today. Back then the small percentage of the population with criminal behavior had the fear put in them. The guy riding his bicycle was never a problem. There's a difference between rolling a perp for snatching a purse and tackling a skateboarder for skating where he shouldn't be.

CruiserTwelve:I don't agree with attitude tickets so the cop was wrong in doing that

So if you, personally, did agree with attitude tickets, then the cop would be right, right? When a pig in a speed trap watches 83 speeding cars go by and then blasts off after the 84th, is that because driver #84 displayed "attitude"?

All tickets are "attitude tickets", anything more tangible than "attitude" gets the gun out.

RectalFury: Whenever a cop blocks the highway, I just jump on the opposite lane of traffic.

Idiot cop saw no issue with blocking one lane of the bike path, and because the cyclist douche looked directly at the cop while he was going around the cop who was in the way, the cyclist was driving unsafely at speed, according to his superior cop rationale.

And that's not abuse of power, and the ticket was not cancelled because I am completely wrong about what I just read in TFA.

Fark both the cop and douchey cyclists. They are terrible people. I would guess the whole reason this even started was because douchecycle gave the cop a fierce stink-eye when he was going around him.

d23:TwowheelinTim: abhorrent1: Bicyclists are assholes and should be ticketed. Don't break the law and you won't have a problem! Oh right. Laws don't apply to bicyclists.

people like you should take the bus.

I kind of figured the comments on this would be about equally divided between motorists and bikers. There are tons of motorists that get pissed because they don't want to share the road and there are tons of bikers that don't want to follow the law. Both sides are right and both sides are wrong.

Actually,. the way I read it, the biker DID, in fact, break the law, and the cop explained to him that, more or less, he probably wouldn't have been cited for it--for the law that he did break--if he hadn't been a dick. So, kind of like every traffic cop interaction ever, huh?

If that we're true why did the cop change his story as to what law was broken?

d23:I kind of figured the comments on this would be about equally divided between motorists and bikers. There are tons of motorists that get pissed because they don't want to share the road and there are tons of bikers that don't want to follow the law. Both sides are right and both sides are wrong.

One side is a little more wrong than the other. What laws aren't cyclists following? Ride on the right side of the road? Stay right so cars can pass? The speed limit?

The mode of transportation I take to work in the morning doesn't make me less of a person, and you may want to think twice about starting a physical altercation with someone who exercises every day.

strathmeyer:d23: I kind of figured the comments on this would be about equally divided between motorists and bikers. There are tons of motorists that get pissed because they don't want to share the road and there are tons of bikers that don't want to follow the law. Both sides are right and both sides are wrong.

One side is a little more wrong than the other. What laws aren't cyclists following? Ride on the right side of the road? Stay right so cars can pass? The speed limit?

The mode of transportation I take to work in the morning doesn't make me less of a person, and you may want to think twice about starting a physical altercation with someone who exercises every day.

I was talking in general. The point is there are ASSHOLES EVERYWHERE. Welcome to Fark.

You only need to see the first 5 seconds to get the gist... when the cop says "the reason I'm giving you a ticket is because you're arguing with me", he's crossed the line into indefensible territory, no matter what else may have happened off camera. Nobody forced the guy to become a cop, he should understand what it is he signed up for... which is to enforce the laws of his jurisdiction, not to give people "lessons" on being polite by summoning them to court. If he can't figure that out, he needs to get a different job.

CruiserTwelve -The problem is that they can create a lot of bad puiblicity in the short period of time that they wear a uniform.

You mean the 'bad publicity' of harassment, injury, and even deaths that were caused by the very people who were supposed to 'protect' us from these very things? Face it, if you guys did not desire to be seen as 'above' the rest of the population, if you did not always act like you were the Lord's gift to society, if you would stop acting like your crap does not stink, if you would just admit you have problems in your department as opposed to 'good ole boy network'ing to save those who created such 'bad publicity' in attempt to back up your 'holier than thou' attitude, then you might just find the rest of us won't have the reactions some of the people on here are having. Not that you should worry about anonymous commentary, but for those who directly suffer from the people who say they are here to 'servei and protect' when they are really here to stroke their own ego and prove their overblown sense of superiority, I doubt they will be so bland as to say it is 'bad publicity'.